1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to tube rack tools for dislodging a plurality of tubes from a rack of tubes, and more specifically for synchronously dislodging a plurality of tubes from a rack of tubes, and methods for using the same.
2. Background and Relevant Art
A microtiter plate is a flat plate with multiple “wells” used as small test tubes or used to receive tubes therein. The microtiter plate has become a standard tool in analytical research and clinical diagnostic testing laboratories. A microtiter plate typically has 6, 24, 96, 384, 1536, 6144, or 24576 sample wells arranged in a 2:3 rectangular matrix. Some microtiter plates have even been manufactured with 3456 or even 9600 wells, although 96 wells, provided in an 8×12 arrangement is the most common.
Depending on the size, each well typically holds somewhere between a few nanoliters to several hundred milliliters of liquid or an equivalent amount of a solid sample, such as a dry powder. Accordingly, some plates have wells with closed bottoms. In certain embodiments, plates may be provided as racks to support glass or plastic tube or tube strip inserts. In such embodiments, the wells can alternatively have open bottoms. Illustrative wells can be circular (including cylindrical or conical) or square in cross-section. Pipettes (e.g., multi-channel pipettes) have been developed to pipette measured liquids into an entire row of wells at a time. PCR devices and other instruments for a wide variety of laboratory applications have been developed to receive microtiter plates of standard sizes and to process samples contained in the wells therein. A number of companies have even developed robots specifically configured to handle microtiter plates.
Microtiter plates often are provided with wells formed in the plate. The most common manufacturing process is injection molding, used typically for polystyrene, polypropylene and cyclo-olefin. However, microplates may be made from a variety of polymers, as is appropriate to withstand a wide temperature range and provide chemical resistance.
More recently, plates have become available that include a rack and a plurality of strips or individual tubes, a common configuration being twelve strips of eight tubes (or eight strips of twelve tubes). Such an arrangement may make it easier to use a portion of a plate or to prepare smaller groups of reactions within a single plate. Often, the spacing of the tubes results in standard spacing of wells of a 96-well microtiter plate, and the rack and tubes, once assembled, are compatible with the myriad tools and instrumentation that have been developed for use with microtiter plates.
One example of a rack and tubes is the Loborack-96 (Micronic North America, McMurray, Pa.). The Loborack-96 can hold, for example, 96 individual tubes (for example, 0.50 ml or 0.75 ml tubes), eight strips of twelve tubes, or twelve strips of eight tubes, in a 96-well configuration. Each tube may be individually capped, or each strip may be capped with a strip of eight or twelve caps, respectively. While the tubes are disposable and are intended as single-use items, the rack is reusable. However, it can be difficult to remove the tubes from the rack manually, and tubes often open as they are removed, potentially contaminating the tube contents or spilling hazardous or contaminating materials. While Micronic sells a tool for removing one tube at a time, a tool that removes rows of tubes or all tubes quickly and easily is desired.